"The Single Most Important Thing We Can Do Is End The War On Drugs!" Christopher Hitchens

[sssssjjjj1]

what is this? battle of the pentagon shills. 911 was inside job you cowards.

[JScarper]

@sssssjjjj1 [citation needed]

[BigLundi]

@sssssjjjj1 You're an uninformed conspiracy theorist douche. Have a nice day :D

[sssssjjjj1]

see, listen to hitchens and that broom riding witch pushing more war for israels enemies. Not really enemies, you know how the fake khazars are. synagogue of satin is just pure evil. Look at their record. Horrible people since antiquity. Oh bologna. what a shill greenwald is. he knows good and well 911 was inside cheney neocon mossad job. he knows good and well. Polygraph all the shills that say the "official lie" THey would say.....I'm not gonna' even dignify that with a response."

[sssssjjjj1]

i once heard that pentagon shill hitchens blowing that du rounds will serve the terrorists right for 9/11. du gives them and our boys cancer. then I said, kharmas gonna strike that cruel bastard. And v'uala! He has real bad cancer. He deserves that for gatekeeping for the real perps of 911.

[AndrewDewittBaker]

Holy shit this was an awesome conversation! I could watch this Convo go on for hours!

[lormendi]

Hitchens for President 2012. Who cares if he was born in Britain!

[TAz69x]

@lormendi Ya. Being born in the US as a criteria for applicability to run for President is one of the most arbitrary fucking things I've ever heard.

[unfad1ng]

@TAz69x

it should be up to the people to choose whoever they want

[braydenbeautiful]

fuck

that bitch was dumbb

[PlanetBongoSan]

hitch does it again. the republican "lady" was only too happy not to be asked for her comeback on that one i think! "oh we're out of time? oh shoot oh darn oh what a shame... *phew!*"

[TheSpiritualWarfare]

I'll be praying for you!

[seans10]

Glenn Greenwald, how do you go down---oops, let me rephrase that.

[PurushaDesa]

Huh. I wonder what Pakistan is an acronym for.

[blahblahhuh1]

@PurushaDesa

'...It stands for Punjab, Afghania, Kashmir, and Indus-Sind...'-Hitchens in slate:

slate . com /id/2200134/

[PurushaDesa]

Wow, clever. Thanks for the link too.

[queenastilon]

The war on drugs has always been silly anyway, nothing more than a crowd pleasing chant. Drugs don't fight, drugs are not atttacking anything or anyone.

If you want to do something about high levels of addiction, petty crime by addicts to fund their habit and major crime by dealers, that's different and more complicated. If they weren't illegal, the major crime would not be there and the foreign regimes profiting from Western drug abuse would have to think of something else.

[rmeddy1]

Solving two major problems in a few short sentences.

Boosh Hitchens.

[warwickshire800]

Christopher Hitchens is correct. America should support countries that share their values of capitalism, and democracy like India. Americans and the free world have no business supporting Islamic countries want to run or are already running government that operates under religious laws. India is the one that needs support.

[PinkoPapist89]

I adore Hitchens but surely a claim that Islamist extremism is not caused by economic factors followed by the (no doubt, in my mind, correct) suggestion that the 'single most important thing' we can do to tackle it is to allow Afghans to cultivate poppies again (an economic issue) amounts to self-contradiction? I find sometimes that Hitchens' rhetorical prowess enables him to skirt round such inconsistencies in his arguments.

[lepolemicist]

I would say that the root cause is the theocracy, but then, it causes poverty, which feeds back to the original cause. A vicious positive feedback loop, and we should address the root cause (theocracy), but that doesn't mean we shouldn't face the feedback loop too. If we address poverty, it helps; it's a necessary part, but not sufficient.

[MonsBadonicus]

Allowing them to cultivate poppies is not to make them wealthier but to take away an enormous source of funding from terrorist organizations.

[glassroots1]

War war war....thats all our government seems to think about. War for this, war for that. The ONLY time we need war is if any group tries to attack us. Thats why we need to just surround our country and protect us. NOT them. Let them figure it out for themsleves! Quit spending our money on war! Nothing and I mean NOTHING good comes from war!!!!!!!

[pomeroy82]

WOW! Hitchens is the man! When you take a step back and really research the history and apply a cause and effect model on a global scale of US policies it all really makes much more sense. Its fucked up how the US government will accuse those who use drugs as aiding terrorists when its the US anti-drug policies themselves that are doing a better job in providing aid. Its all about $. Drugs being illegal = more poverty, terrorism, WAR, and otherwise law abiding citizens in jail.

[tigerdraft]

Go Hitchens. A fine intellect making some points based on logic and reason.

[drongovids]

Christopher Hitchins

[patg14]

that self-hating idiot in the white shirt is such a sniveling little weasel

[drongovids]

he's a sniveling worm tongue

[ClumsyRoot]

Christ, that chick's voice makes me want to gouge out my eardrums.

[DarkcoDespres]

We have the knowledge and the ablity to end ALL of the suffering in and of the world. The only problem is that it would bankrupt all 195 countries of the world to do. So how can you continue to defend such a system that is holding our species back and costing countless lives. If a system stops meeting the needs of the people, it's time to discard it.

[jgaltut]

Thank you very much for setting Mike straight. First he conflates Communism with all socialism (which has failed), then he acts like he is talking about the original concept (which hasn't existed).

I accept his definition but with no money and no State. The only thing he said that was correct is "Until we 'evolve' pass our current state" and EVOLUTION is what we need.

It is said that doing the SAME things over and over and expecting different results is insanity. We need a new paradigm.

[ClumsyRoot]

We have neither the knowledge nor the ability to "end ALL of the suffering in and of the world."

We're human. The best we can do is muddle through and try to make progress over time.

[mongobobo]

Well, we have already have many scientific advancements that could end suffering. For example, there are genetically modified seeds that can grow in almost any climate.  We have water purification systems that can turn water from the worst Bangalore sewer into drinking water. We have solar, wind and geothermal power advances. Implementation is the only problem.

[ClumsyRoot]

I see your point. It's the idea that we can END suffering that I disagree with. We can REDUCE suffering, but nature will always have something to throw at us--natural disasters, virulent diseases, and the like.

[mongobobo]

Well, yes I suffer in traffic and people suffer through cold weather, but I thought it was clear we weren't talking about making the planet a permanent garden of eden.

[ClumsyRoot]

DarkoDepres seems to think that we can literally END suffering. It is that kind of naive idealism with which I was taking issue.

[DarkcoDespres]

JGA, I agree with you on that concept, it is a must. Mike, and your a bit wrong on assuming this is communism. Even in communist countries you have a monetary system, albiet not very good ones. We created the monetary system and have been using it for almost 2000 years. Would you like to still be using tool from 2000 years ago. It's time to evolve. Money is our biggest obsticle.

[Mike3303]

Countries that are labeled "communist" aren't really communist. Communism by definition negates of private capital (i.e. a monetary system), is classless, and is based off the idea of universal ownership of all production entities. It fails though because it is impossible to maintain. All you guys are doing is repeating what communism was supposed to be, an ideal, utopian society.

[bigjstokes]

VECTOR!

[CDUBBLEYEW]

Hitchens is bang on with his bit on poppies and how vital they could be to re-building the economy in Afgahistan. Such a shame no American politician will ever have the guts to go through with anything like he suggests.

[S0vereignty]

Hitchens looks like he just crawled out of bed with a hangover... yet he's still articulate.

[belzondium]

this is the most tacky-looking commentary program ever. hitchens is the only person here i've even heard of.

[blahblahhuh1]

what a terrible host.

hitchens was looking at the wrong part of the camera. no big deai.

[ZedAlfa273]

My god, Christopher Hitchens is so totally junked out in this vid its unbelievable. He's so high that he won't even look into the camera. His pallor is so totally gray and ashen that he looks like death warmed over.

He's got to be hooked on painkillers. I can see why he's all in favor of ending the war on drugs, he's addicted to them.

[Blackwater578]

Hahahaha!

[marniespeaks]

hitchens is absolutely correct

[jgaltut]

The war on terror is as FAKE as the war on drugs. The central bankers intelligence arms (CIA, MI6, Mossad) are the REAL terrorists and drug runners.

When will we WAKE UP!!

The 'monetary system' is the root cause of all our problems and luckily it is obsolete. We need to make all earth's resources 'common heritage' to all people and all the wars, fighting, crime, poverty, etc. will end.

Automated systems that produce abundance is the world's only path to prosperity.

[FreeganGleaner]

The Venus Project

[jgaltut]

Zeitgeist and the Venus Project are the only ones who point out the root cause of our problems, money system.

They also are the only ones who present a viable solution for prosperity for everyone, instead of all other options I have heard where only a few benefit and everyone else suffers.

The funny thing is that creating abundance would produce things available to EVERYONE that is better than what even the richest people have today. Will we be smart enough to change?

[Mike3303]

Karl Marx beat you to this idea over a century ago. Utopias aren't possible. Until we evolve pass our current state, war, fighting, crime, poverty are merely inevitable. The best we can do is attempt to diminish these fallacies.

[jgaltut]

Thanks for your response. But I think you may have missed my point. Communism, Socialism, Capitalism are ALL dependent on a MONETARY SYSTEM, where a small group of people, be they politicians, bankers or CEOs, OWN and CONTROL everything.

What I am talking about is the OPPOSITE. Resources belong to everyone. When we eliminate the monetary system, share all resources and build automated sustainable systems for producing an ABUNDANCE of necessities of life- wars, crime, starvation will be GONE

[Mike3303]

You can't be serious. Communism (and some forms of socialism) is by no means controlled by the monetary system. Communism is by definition the abolition of private ownership. The exact idea you are proposing of "commonly owned resources" IS the very textbook definition of communism. How can you not know this? But don't take my word for it. Wikipedia it or buy a dictionary.

[mongobobo]

Yes, communisim rejects private capital and seeks to keep the management and distribution of capital under the purview of the state. It is still a system based on capital.

[queenastilon]

@mongobobo indeed; it is state capitalism. In practice, it's meant a few at the top taking the material opulance for themselves, the same as it always is in every society.

[jgaltut]

Hitch got it almost totally right this time, End the insane war on drugs is perfect. But buying the poppies and helping India to clean out Afghanistan would be smart.

The part that they all don't get is that wars are meant to go on and on to funnel resources to the top and destroy the middle class. It has nothing to do with anything else.

Also it is about the US empire getting a military foothold in the far east, to protect the pipeline and steal oil like in Iraq. Pathetic.

[Bunnicula71]

Hitchens seems like he has an IV that delivers a steady, strong dose of alcohol.

[richardcadbury]

Hitchens pissed again!

[drgoodvibesxxx]

Christopher Hitchens looks even worse when he sold out to be on the mainstream media. He also seems delusional in that he thinks the US are the guests of the corrupt afghan government. I assume he thinks we were also guests of the diem government in Veitnam. Both of which would not be there if they were not propped out by the US

[Mike3303]

Sold out to the mainstream media? Since when has the mainstream media supported either Afghanistan or Iraq?

[FlowerClown]

Afghanistan over the years is undefeated.

There is no way to "WIN" this war.

[motorolarules]

non-sense based on non-sense

[highwaysong007]

Christopher Hitchens is...(LOL)...

The Anti-Terrorist?

unfortunately the theme is here is just so... MSNBC

[charlesvan13]

It takes a lot of technology and knowledgable scientists to produce functioning nuclear technology.

Therefore it is not that hard to keep nuclear weapons from terrorist groups. It's why a nuke hasn't been used yet by such a group.

[waltermh111]

The lady is an idiot.

You cant ever separate nukes from terrorists if they want them.

The stuff isnt that hard to get for an organised group.

Its just hard to get and keep on a large scale

----

Chris Hitch is wrong to misrepresent our position in afghan as guests as superfuzz pointed out, but he is right that the war on drugs does need to end

Still decent debate, cable tv gives way too little time to discussions. Its stupid. 24 hour channels with 10 minutes per topic despite having 3 guests

[mynewcat]

Sounds like a brilliant idea! - of course it will be forgotten immediately.

1. stop burning their crops - win hearts and minds

2. buy the poppies from them for our legitimate use (hospitals etc.) - create a mutually beneficial trade link

3. stop the flow of money to the Taliban and reduce their efficacy

4. Profit.

[biggesttrucker]

8=================) - - - - - ________

[Mike3303]

Christopher "Hitchins"

[superfuzz]

lol chris did he just say they were there on the invitation of the afghan govt? wt?. they invaded and installed that govt. OF COURSE THEY WOULD SUPPORT THEMSELVES. without the u.s. troops they would be disposed in a minute. sometimes chris says some very stoopid shit.

[laggynewbie]

@superfuzz stoopid

[DoniGuzzo]

withdrawal July 2011? I don't believe they'll start bringing back troops...

[grit123]

Of course. Officials like Sec Def Gates and Sec State Clinton through response to questioning are already exposing there is no real plan or deadline for withdrawal. Gates has said any supposed withdrawal would take 2-3 years anyway. I'm sure there will be developments in the near future to create a reason for us to stay there as well.

The status quo continues..

[thetruthaboutstuff]

you will see it. why? 2012

[TheSkinzilla]

Ending the war on drugs is the smartest thing anyone on the panel said. At the very least, the legalization/taxation/regulati­on of marijuana could help cut America's deficit, and free up massive amounts of police resources.

[mockingarab]

Dylan Ratiagn snorts coke like a vacuum cleaner before the show

[BigBoss1991]

Glenn Greenwald is the man. He knows what he is talking about.

[SimonPeter168]

wow people talking halfway calmly to each other and asking questions to try to understand each others positions

this can't be cable news.

[iTellYouNoLie]

yep